Page 208 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

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A LARGE CLOTH PAINTING OF A MAHARANA'S COURT
INDIA, RAJASTHAN, UDAIPUR, EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Textile 57 x 33æ in. (144.8 x 85.7 cm.)
Image 51 x 32æ in. (129.5 x 83.2 cm.)
$15,000-20,000

Large cloth paintings of this type are relatively rare in the greater corpus
of classical Indian painting. The most prominent use of the medium is in
the picchwai painting practice in Nathdwara which established satellite
workshops in the neighboring Rajput princely states of Kishangarh and
Udaipur. It is possible the commission of court paintings on cloth in 18th
and 19th century Udaipur was influenced by the picchwai painting tradition;
unlike piccvhai paintings, however, the present style of cloth painting carries a
demonstrably miniaturist quality in style.

A few known examples of darbar scenes on cloth can be compared to the
present painting. A large painting attributed to circa 1705 at the City Palace
Museum, Udaipur (acc. no. 2012.20.0012.R) depicts Maharana Amar Singh
II (r. 1698–1710) at his court watching elephants fight at the Manek Chowk.
Two other early 18th century examples can be found in the Victoria and Albert
Museum (acc. nos. 09405(IS) and 09316(IS)), one of Maharana Sangram
Singh (r. 1710-34) receiving the Dutch ambassador Johan Josua Ketelaar (1659
– 1718) and the other of an unidentified Maharana overseeing an elephant fight.
A later painting at the Brooklyn Museum attributed to Ghasi, circa 1832 (acc.
no. 2002.34) depicts Maharana Jawan Singh (r. 1828–38) in darbar with the
Governor General of India, Lord William Cavendish Bentinck. Two large scale
posthumous portrait paintings in the Victoria and Albert Museum (acc. no.
IS.55-1997) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (acc. no. M.85.283.5)
depicting Maharana Amar Singh and Maharana Jagat Singh can also be
compared to the present lot, demonstrating miniature style portraiture in a
large scale format.

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